Champions, Yes; Dynasty, NO

Monday

Oct 29, 2012 at 9:44 PMOct 29, 2012 at 9:46 PM

JASON FARMERjason.farmer@courierpost.com

First off, let me say congrats to the San Francisco Giants organization and fans on winning the 2012 World Series. It was a great year for the Giants as the team won its seventh championship and second in the last three years.Now, not to rain on the Giants and their fan’s parade, but let’s get something straight. I have heard a lot of talk about the Giants being a dynasty. And while winning two of the past three World Series could spur such talk, the Giants are not a dynasty, and here is why.Between the 2010 Giants and the 2012 Giants, the roster is completely different. Only one starting position player for the 2012 Giants was a starter on the 2010 team, Buster Posey.There are a couple of other players from 2010 who returned, but they are in vastly different roles. Pablo Sandoval was a member of the 2010 World Series team, but it was Juan Uribe starting at third base. Aubrey Huff was the starting first baseman in 2010, but this season it was Brandon Belt.Other than those two, the rest of the position players are all new.On the pitching side, there are plenty of returning players. Starting pitchers Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner are all still with the club as are relievers Jeremy Affeldt, Guillermo Mota, Sergio Romo, and Santiago Castilla.In 2010, Barry Zito was a member of the Giants and had a horrible year statistically. It was so bad, the Giants left Zito and his $126 million dollar contract off of the Giants’ post season roster. This year, he was one of their best postseason pitchers. Two years ago, Lincecum was a starting pitcher for the Giants during the World Series. This year, he was a reliever, and a very good one for San Francisco out of the pen after having a subpar 2012 regular season.Look at the roster turnover and see how the team has changed, then explain to me how the Giants qualify as a dynasty, because they don’t.Having a team become a dynasty is hard in today’s game. Keeping players together during the age of free agency is tough, and expensive.So that leads me to the question of what exactly qualifies as a dynasty.The last dynasty baseball had, was the 1998-2001 New York Yankees. During that time, the Yankees advanced to four straight World Series and won three consecutive (1998-2000). The lone series loss was the fourth one in 2001.During that four year span, the Yankees had the same starting position players for six of the field positions; Tino Martinez (1B), Derek Jeter (SS), Scott Brosius (3B), Paul O’Neill (RF), Bernie Williams (CF), and Jorge Posada (C). Posada shared time behind the dish with Joe Girardi in 1998, but still started two of the four games. In the one game Posada came in as a pinch hitter for Girardi, Posada finished 1-for-2 while Girardi was 0-for-2.On the mound, the Yankees had two starting pitchers that started games in all four years, Andy Pettitte and Orlando Hernandez. While not a part of the team in 1998, Roger Clemens joined the Yankees in 1999 and started games in the World Series during 1999, 2000, and 2001. The addition of Clemens gave the Yankees three starting pitchers who were a part of the team.The Yankees teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s were baseball’s first dynasty since the Oakland A’s of the early 1970s. During the early 1970s, the Oakland A’s won the American League West five straight years (1971-1975). In the middle of that run, the A’s won three straight World Series championships (1972-1974).Other than the A’s and the Yankees, no other team in baseball history has won three straight World Series. The Yankees are the only team to win four straight (1936-1939) as well as five straight (1949-1953). Add in 1947 and the Yankees won six World Series championships in seven years.From 1936 to 1964, the Yankees were in the World Series 22 times. That is a span of 29 years where the Yankees were in 22 World Series. During that time, the Yankees went 16-6 in the Fall Classic.Sorry Giants fans, you are not a dynasty. The Yankees are a dynasty.